If He Can Make It Here . . .

Will the film business be ruled only by foreign moguls and domestic megastudios? Not if Robert De Niro can help it. The reclusive, renegade actor is betting his money and his reputation that he can deliver a convincing performance as a real-life film producer. De Niro's previous experience as a boss has been confined to playing characters ranging from Don Corleone in The Godfather, Part II to a film mogul in The Last Tycoon. But this year the 46- year-old Manhattan native became president of his own movie company, New York City's TriBeCa Productions, which already has ten film projects in early stages of development. In September, De Niro will open the TriBeCa Film Center, an eight-story converted coffee factory near the Hudson River that will house his production company and offer space to other independent filmmakers.

De Niro decided to go into business so that he could try his hand at directing and producing. "I never had the full responsibility for a film before and never wanted it. But now I do," he told a reporter. "Ultimately, it's to have control."

For his headquarters, De Niro chose an 83-year-old red brick building situated in TriBeCa, a trendy downtown neighborhood where he lives. De Niro, who will have 50% ownership in the building, is supervising a renovation that will leave in place industrial details like the giant coffee scales in his office. But the building's advanced features will include a 70-seat screening room designed by director George Lucas' production company.

The atmosphere at TriBeCa will be a far cry from that of the big studios. "We're more relaxed," says Jane Rosenthal, a CBS and Walt Disney veteran hired by De Niro as his executive vice president. "My two dogs come to work with me." There will also be some indulgences at the film center. One will be the TriBeCa Bar and Grill, a restaurant that De Niro is opening with financial investments from such pals as Sean Penn, Bill Murray and Mikhail Baryshnikov. De Niro's new Hollywood-on-the-Hudson may be an upstart, but it will not suffer for lack of connections.